i just bought a samsung s4 mini a week or so ago... it's alight, but i can't help but notice all the internet hate for touchwiz? why is this?
what am i missing out on by having touchwiz? the phone runs fine. looks ok. you can change the background to something less colourful if you want and can hide app icons you don't use.
what gives? why the hate? elighten me please. i've asked friends, but they either reply with "what hate? samsung is lovely" or "it's ok, but i like [insert alternative]".
I've searched online but all i get is talk about some "launcher". so is all this fuss about an icon that takes you to your apps grid?!
the reason i ask is that i was looking at installing cyanogenmod at some point to give me more control over security of my phone and i came across this topic. i want to understand.
is the hate a real thing, or just an internet phenomena? if it is real, why the hate?
the thing is. my phone is pretty snappy. no lag, no apps pre-installed apart from googlestuff/samsungstuff and it doesn't stop me from installing anything or going to any sites. i didn't get it from a telecom company though.
so what are the options that are available in stock android that i am missing out on?
the keyboard on mine is unusable once it learns a few dozen words. it's hilariously bad. I need to put cyanogen back on my s3.
also, I'd like the option to disable touchwiz for people that know what they're doing.
Samsung's perspective is if you're used to touchwiz you won't buy something else because it's different. I don't think they got the memo from the ministry of stop it telling them to stop that.
Oh do I hate Touchwiz as stock. It was actually all right when I was using a "Super Stock" ROM, basically stock but with root access, hardware acceleration always on and a ton of other improvements.
But the best thing I did while on stock was get Apex Launcher. Made a world of difference. I still use it not on Omni ROM just because I like the options and layout. 9x12 home screen layout over 9 screens, I have everything laid out how I like.
i currently a galaxy s2, galaxy s3, galaxy s4. let me tell you.. TOUCHWIZ IS THE DEVILS SPAWN!!! IT MAKES YOU PHONE SOOOOOOOOOO BADDDDDDD. Root it and get a custom rom like cyanogenmod or liquid smooth. I've done it for EVERY person i know that has a Samsung device and they love it. They love a stock android rom and not the devils spawn that is touch wiz. If u want to know what your missing out on, just think that literally every thing is better on a custom rom, and even unforeseen features like a lockscreen flashlight and a de-bloated phone. No more crappy s apps or carrier crap. Trust me you will love a custom rom.
there are widgets for flashlight. i made use of one last night when the electricity shut off.
can you suggest any other useful/aesthetically pleasing features that would help me decide to make the switch before my warranty runs out?
i use the samsung software to sync my phone's data with, and back it up to, both my windows and my mac laptops without using google's apps. this is useful to me as i don't like cloud solutions or having all of my contacts on a social/advertising network.
i know, i shouldnt' have bought an android phone if i didn't like google, but i'll have to make do for now.
touchwiz is good at some things, like shoving Samsung apps you will never use down your throat and then not allowing you to delete them when you realize you will never use them.
Stock Android is a beautiful thing. its snappy, light(processing wise), and simple.
touchwiz is overly complicated for whatever reason, sluggish (more so over time) and weird .
I went from owning a samasung nexus s 4 (pretty much stock android) to a Samsung galaxy s4 . I loved my new s4 ....for about a month until i realized how much i missed stock android. i had managed to push my nexus s up to android 4.2,2 and preformed pretty good. on the other hand my s4 would lagg when i would try to jump from app to app even thought it had newer better hardware. so i rooted, installed a custom recovery and switched to cyanogenmod as soon as i could.
software reaaaalllllyyyy makes a difference even when you have pretty good hardware.
I really like Touchwiz, however, Touchwiz is soooooo slow! What's amazing is that If I compare side-by-side my Moto G vs my friend's Galaxy S5, my Moto G wins in perfomance. I would totally buy a S5 if it performed better. And yes, I could install a stock Rom, but, why I'm wasting 600 euros if I can waste 250 in One Plus One when it realeses and have approximately the same perfomance plus unique features that make it stand out and differentiate it from other phones?
My Dad has a Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro with stock rom but rooted and boy it just bogs the phone down. He consistently complains about how slow it is. One time, the phone magically wanted to go into power save mode and the lag on that was horrible. It was like running a game at 15 FPS. Its funny IMO that they think they have to compete with Google for apps but they dont need to. Google provides you with everything and I mean EVERYTHING. Whoever has control of the Android team at Samsung needs to get fired. Samsung even did some sneeky stuff like putting KNOX which is basically Samsung's middle finger to everyone that flashes custom stuff to their devices because it "destroys the user experience" and "harms both the user and the device".
In my opinion pure android is designed nicely. Even after getting used to tochwiz it feels clumsy to me compared to my nexus 7. I dont hate it I just dont think it is as good as vanilla.